


Endlessly

by artemisia_HQ



Series: Kagehina Week 2020 [5]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: A Week of Kagehina, Alternate Universe - Mythology, Angels, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, Day 5:Supernatural, Day 6:Endgame, Fallen Angels, Heavy Angst, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Character Death, KageHina Week 2020, Kagehina is destined to find each other that's all you need to know, M/M, Myth-style Narration, Mythical Beings & Creatures, References to Depression, Reincarnation, Soulmates, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:40:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24816988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemisia_HQ/pseuds/artemisia_HQ
Summary: Love is never wrong, and for two beings who found solace with each other, it was the only right they believed in. The presence of the other felt right; the warmth they shared when they submitted to their passion felt right; loving someone they should not felt right.Their love was of dangerous nature, one that should be kept secret at all cost, for the price of their sin was great.Two souls tied and bound by fate, separated by a curse, and found each other again through love that transcends all odds.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Series: Kagehina Week 2020 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1787242
Comments: 26
Kudos: 122
Collections: Kagehina Week 2020





	Endlessly

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boyyy, this was a RIDE.
> 
> I honestly have no excuse for this. You know I live for the angst, and I hope the absurd amount of fluff before this shitstorm will be enough for you all to forgive me for this ฅʕ•̫͡•ʔฅ
> 
> I love you all and I love these boys and I am apologizing in advance :'))))

Up in the heavens, creatures of light dwell on its holy halls and divine estate. With their magnificent wings that spanned large and proud on their backs, they glided through the clouds singing hymnals of praises and love, their jovial laughter a symphony of its own.

One angel in particular, radiated happiness and zeal more than the others, and he glowed with it through his carefree smiles and healing sound of laughter. He was compassionate, his kindness overflowing, and he did not hesitate to impart every ounce of it to anyone, or thing, who needed it. The other angels flocked to him, his warmth and friendliness bringing them close. The Lord favored him, regarded him as the highest standard, the perfect epitome of what an angel should be.

Another angel, however, could not be farther than the pictorial representation of their kind. He was gloomy and dark, like his wings that spilled like midnight on his back. He did not like mingling and playing with his kin—the sour look on his face often drove them away, the sharp edge of his tongue ostracized him even more. Solitude was his only company, just an inky, black figure somewhere away from the others. An outcast, an _abomination_ some would even say, and no one dared to befriend the dark angel in fear of being shunned themselves.

Except for the light angel who simply could not accept this state of circumstances. He wanted everyone to get along, so more voices can join in their choruses, more angels to play with, more friends to love. It also tickled his inquisitive nature; he wanted to see for himself if the dark angel was what the gossips said he was.

He was fairly easy to find, a sore spot of darkness amidst all the majestic glow in their realm. The light angel swooped down and carefully approached the dark angel, whose back was to him. He did not get to take more than a few steps when the dark angel spoke.

“What do you want?” came the sharp demand, voice low and deep, not a hint of friendliness in them.

But the light angel was determined. “Hello!” he greeted cheerfully. “I was hoping for some company. Would you mind—”

“Yes, I do mind. Leave me alone.”

The light angel did not falter and doubled the cheeriness to his tone, smiling widely even though the dark angel was resolutely turned away from him. “It is not fun being alone. Here, I made some meat-filled buns.” He retrieved them from his satchel. “I know angels do not really need food, but they are really delicious and I made so much, and I was hoping we can share them?”

A long beat of silence, and then, “Meat-filled buns?”

“Yeah! They are really good, I promise!”

The dark figure finally showed signs of movement. His large, raven wings rustled and swayed when he turned to face the light angel, regarding him with steel-blue eyes, the depth in them enthralling. The light angel held his gaze, offering the warm buns once again.

Those sharp eyes stared at the food, then back up again. “Can I have some?” he asked, the edge now gone, and the light angel smiled, wings preening.

“Absolutely!”

The sprightly angel skipped closer to the other, handing him a doughy bun, and he thought, this supposed _‘dark’_ angel was as much of an angel as he was with how his face lit up, blue eyes shining like the clear lake behind them.

“I am called Shouyou, by the way!”

“Mine is Tobio. Not that anyone called me that before.”

“Then I will be the first one!”

* * *

For the coming days after that fateful encounter, Shouyou would visit Tobio and spend time with him, using meat-filled buns as a guise. But in time, the use of food as a lure faded and the dark angel anticipated the light angel to come to him almost every day. They frolicked in the lake sometimes, competing whose rock would skip the farthest or who could make their rocks skip the most. In the end, they would come out all wet and soaked, wings heavy on their backs, and they would lay on the grass, wings spread on full span to dry them off. They would soar up among the clouds, hold races on who can reach whichever cloud first, and eventually ended up sprawled amongst the fleecy cotton, talking about nothing and everything.

Soon, gossips started to abound, how the two angels who were, in all accounts and ways, the antithesis of the other, yet seem to be never seen apart. They could hear their loud chattering, high and deep voices that sounded suspiciously like fighting, a word and instance not commonly heard or seen in Heaven. The rumors escalated, crowds of angels gathering how the dark angel must be influencing _their_ Shouyou, and they voiced this to the light angel himself, who only laughed at their _‘ridiculous insinuations.’_

“He is _not_ influencing me! Though he sometimes looks like it, he is not a spawn of the Enemy. He’s really kind when you get to know him,” Shouyou said, then abruptly waved goodbye because _‘Tobio’_ was waiting, the name that seemed to always spill from the light angel’s lips.

Appeased, the angels stopped their causeries; it is unbecoming of an angel to dwell in such acts after all. So they leave the two angels be, and just deemed it as a good thing for the dark angel to, at last, be seen in the company of another instead of brooding alone. Perhaps Shouyou was influencing _him_ , and their unlikely friendship was soon accepted by the congregation, however perplexing it was.

But unbeknownst to everyone, an incident would befall that would disturb the tranquility of their realm, shake the very foundation in which they live.

Angels were beings of love—it was only natural for them to have it, much more to give it, and for two angels where one had an abundance, and the other longing to be filled, it was a twisted destiny of inevitability for the two angels to share a love that far outweighed that of mere friendship or companionship. It was Fate’s design, but Fate was also cruel, for an angel was made and nurtured to serve and be faithful to the Lord, and when their adoration and devotion strayed, it was an act of ultimate blasphemy for an angel to commit.

The rumors surfaced once again, this time even more perturbing than the last. Whispers about the light and dark angels indulging in acts that were dubious of a friendly nature flit from ear to ear, how they saw them disappearing suspiciously in places rarely ventured, and not be seen for days. Some even had sightings of the light angel bearing peculiar marks on prominent yet unusual places, and when they questioned him regarding this, he would turn red, wings twitching nervously, then mumbled some unintelligible excuse before flying off, no doubt to fraternize with the dark angel.

“The other angels are starting to talk,” Tobio said, worry apparent in his tone, yet his hands continue to stroke the scintillating white feathers of the angel sprawled across his chest. His own black wings were furled around them, providing another source of warmth other than the combined heat of their flushed, naked bodies.

Shouyou only nestled closer, eyes drawing heavy as he listened to the pulsating sound beneath the other’s warm chest. “Let them talk,” he murmured. “We are not doing anything wrong.”

The dark angel sighed and nodded his affirmation, and not soon after, they both drifted into slumber, having no other care except for the one in their arms.

Love is never wrong, and for two beings who found solace with each other, it was the only right they believed in. The presence of the other felt right; the warmth they shared when they submitted to their passion felt right; loving someone they should not felt right.

Their love was of dangerous nature, one that should be kept secret at all cost, for the price of their sin was great.

But alas, secrets were made to be found out with time, and it was not long until their forbidden affair was discovered. Some may say it was in their intention, a blatant act of defiance for everyone to witness, and what the other angels saw that fateful day was an image that would forever taint their holy grounds.

The two angels were wrapped in a tight embrace, limbs clutching and grasping the other, their wings outspread as if they were in flight. The light angel—their _perfect_ little angel—mounted the dark angel, bodies moving and undulating in a hypnotizing cadence. The sonorous lips that once sang praises now gasped sounds of lustful pleasure, crying out the name of the angel beneath him.

They were utterly and completely lost in their passionate, sinful act, and the witnesses could only stare and gawk. It was not until the two angels both cry out in rapture, bodies shuddering, wings quivering so intensely that tufts of feathers spiraled like rain shower, when a burst of blinding light exploded in the sky, charged with rumbles of thunder, that woke the aghast spectators from their trance and they disentangled the two disgraceful angels apart.

* * *

Clad only in tattered tunics, hands and feet shackled, wings wrapped in iron chains, the sullied angels stand before the Lord. The Great Hall is quiet, everyone waiting in bated breath for the verdict impending over the sinners, the first of its nature to be transcribed in their long history.

“Shouyou,” The Lord regarded the light angel, calm despite the circumstances. He turned to the dark angel, “Tobio.”

They both sunk readily on their knees, but their heads were held high, proud and dignified, as if they were not aware of the immorality they committed.

“You stand indicted on the grounds of equivocally committing the grave sin of lust. You—”

“We just love! How is that a sin?” The light angel burst out in interruption and the crowd gasped in collective astonishment. No one dared interfere with the Lord whilst He was speaking, much more so when He was passing judgment. But even more unsettling was seeing the obedient and pliant light angel speak in such a disrespectful manner, face contorted into a frown, fists balled tight and red on his sides.

“It was him!” someone shouted, pointing at the dark angel still kneeling on the floor. “He corrupted Shouyou!”

It was voicing out everyone's sentiments, and the crowd erupted, throwing accusations and unfounded slights on the dark angel who remained silent and unmoving.

“No! He did not do anything! Leave him alone!” the light angel cried out, arms spread as if to protect the dark angel from the shouts of derision and contempt.

“Punish him instead!”

“Abomination!”

“He is a spawn of the devil!”

“Stop! Stop it!” Tears flowed in the angel’s cheeks in desperation. “Please, stop!”

_“ENOUGH!”_

Thunder roared and the ground shook, putting an immediate halt on the rising commotion. Every angel fell on their knees, except for the light angel still shielding his lover with his small body, even as tears trickled down his face, limbs trembling.

The Lord stood from where He sat on His great throne and knocked his golden staff on the floor, the sound deafening and resonating amidst the silence. He stepped off the dais and He walked with an overflowing air of authority as He faced the soiled angels, still a visage of calm.

“I am in great pain to see My children submit to sin, and it is an even greater pain to inflict punishment for it.” He raised his staff, and from it spewed a storm, gray and furious and unforgiving, and with a clamorous voice, he bellows, “For disobeying the Father’s law and indulging in the sin of lust, I hereby rescind your standing as a messenger of God. You are to live in exile in the human world, never again to set foot on the gates of Heaven, a soul doomed to burn in the flames of Hell.”

The storm engulfed the accused, a raging cyclone of howling winds and angry cackles of lightning, and as quick as it came, it was gone, taking with it two bare figures relinquished of their magnificent wings, divine beings no longer.

* * *

Shouyou could not remember much from the fall. It was long; that he was sure of. And cold. He never had to experience cold before, only warmth, and he longed for it.

No sooner than he wished for it, he felt it: another cold, shivering body, yet at the contact of their skin, all he knew was warmth. Comfort.

Tobio. Tobio was here.

It was all right. Everything would be all right.

Locked into a tight embrace, they wait for the end of the fall.

* * *

The landing was not painful at all.

Tobio maneuvered himself so that Shouyou would be cushioned by Tobio’s body when they landed, and Tobio tightened his hold around the small frame pressed against him, bracing and anticipating for the impact.

It was nothing but a soft thud on his back he hardly even felt it.

Tobio stared up at the clear, blue sky, consciousness still adrift in a foggy haze, as if it was still in free-fall and his body was the first to come in contact with land.

A sniffle and warm wetness on his chest roused him back to cognizance.

“I am sorry,” Shouyou sobbed. His body quivered even more with each heaving cry. “I am so sorry.”

Tobio’s hand caressed his orange locks, a bead of tear slipping past his eye, but it was not due to the wake of their banishment—it was the sound of despair from the usually exuberant boy that was torture more agonizing than any.

“What are you apologizing for? We did not do anything wrong.”

* * *

Perhaps it was small mercy from the Lord that He kept them together when they were thrown out of Heaven. Perhaps that was not Heaven at all, for the lovers lived in quiet contentment and bliss despite their simple and humble way of living.

Tobio taught himself the ways of hunting, and when he grew confident enough of his skills, he passed his knowledge to his companion, and soon enough, they were running side by side chasing after a game they decided they would have for dinner. On more than one occasion, they end up chasing each other, and it was as if they never left Paradise. Or they brought it with them.

They built a small hut for themselves on top of a hill not far from where they landed, a place to rest after a weary day of hunting and foraging, a place that was always filled with laughter and banters they were notorious for, a place that witnessed the immense passion and love they had for the other.

In time, they learned to adapt and mingle with the humans from a nearby village, trading the produce of their hunting for essentials not found in their forest. Shouyou especially enjoyed venturing down to the town, for he never once lost his friendly disposition, the yearning to interact and socialize. Tobio would accompany him on some days, and although he made a few acquaintances, he is still not too keen of crowds and would rather stay home or hunt.

It was not the most luxurious life, far different from the comforts they were used to, but they were happy. As long as they have each other, nothing ever mattered. Not even on days where they longed to soar among the clouds again, or darker days where they truly fought and uttered hurtful words they deeply regret no sooner than the moment it left their tongues.

Or even on murky nights when Tobio had to wake Shouyou from the night terrors that plagued him, his tears trickling as he rasped apologies in between his every wretched cry, still bearing the guilt of their exile. Every time, Tobio would hold him until morning, whispering reassurance and declarations of love until he lulled him to calm.

“I am here,” he would say. “I love you. Come back to me, Shouyou. Come back to me.”

And Shouyou would heed him, and he would apologize one last time for the worry he caused, then whispered the same words back to his lover.

For years, they lived in this Eden they carved out for themselves, but it was only a question of time before realization dawned that their punishment was only beginning.

Tobio should have taken notice of it, how his stamina and robustness seemed unending while Shouyou, the one who used to boast those qualities, tired out more easily; how Tobio’s cuts and bruises brought about by hunting healed almost in an instant, while a small cut on Shouyou’s finger had taken days to heal. The stark difference between them became even more apparent when the years rolled by and Tobio remained as youthful and beautiful as ever, still with the same stance and bearings as he was as an angel. Shouyou was still beautiful, but his once delicate features turned rugged, his soft skin turning calloused and rough, his sparkling eyes bordered by creases and lines.

The curse mocked them in the wake of their realization:

One soul remained immortal; the other doomed to burn in the flames of Hell.

* * *

The knowledge of that curse did not hinder their happiness, however. It only made their love prosper, every second cherished and treasured, every little gesture more purposeful and significant. The banters and arguments were still there, but it was just another reflection of their love, another facet to their unending affection.

They made love with consuming passion under the stars every night, with every intent that they be witnessed. Let them see that no curse could ever sever their devotion and carnal desire for the other; let them hear their lust-filled cries and the pleasure to love and be loved in return.

But Death, much like Love, was inevitable, and after three decades and four years of a life filled with bountiful happiness and contentment, the mortal’s final days had come.

He had caught a mysterious plague that ravaged all of the known lands, a disease that weakened the lungs and had the afflicted gush forth blood. It shriveled his body until he could barely stand, color leached from his complexion—even his lively hair. But his eyes still held the same gleam of mischief and playfulness, still held endless, unconditional adoration for the man he loved.

Yet, it was still tormenting, seeing the once high-spirited boy wither and succumb to a mere disease, seeing him smile without the usual radiance, and even the exertion of his weak laughter made him expel blood, and all Tobio could do is alleviate his pain with herbal remedies to prolong his lover’s life.

It was all in vain, and they both knew it.

“I will find you again, I promise,” Shouyou vowed, words strong and potent, even as he lay in frailty, slowly ebbing. “In this lifetime, or in the next, or the next one after that. A hundred or thousand years, it would not matter what or how long it will take. I will find you.” He smiled weakly, trembling hands reaching out to his beloved. “Can you keep one for me, too?”

Tobio grabbed hold of the outstretched hand. They were rough and bony, but to him, it still felt like the hands of the boy who offered him meat-filled buns.

“Yes,” he said.

Tears streaked down from brown lidded eyes. “Promise me that you will live on. Promise me that you will live happy and carefree.”

“How can I do that?” Tobio sobbed. His eyes welled with tears of their own. “Without you, I—I cannot—”

“You have to. You have to wait for me,” Shouyou urged as he caressed his lover's tear-stained cheeks.

Tobio could only nod, clasping the frail hand ever so slightly.

Shouyou smiled. “And…promise me that you will not forget about me.”

“As if I can do that,” Tobio scoffed and Shouyou feebly chuckled.

“I know. But I need you to promise me.”

“I promise,” Tobio said, every sinew and fiber of his body committing to that pledge. “With all that I am, I promise.”

For a moment, it was as if another breath of life bloomed in Shouyou’s face. “That… makes me happy. Thank you.”

Rivulets of tears cascaded down Tobio’s face when Shouyou pulled him close with the last of his strength, and with those golden orbs that slowly and visibly started to dim, Shouyou whispered, “I love you. You are my heaven.”

And for the last and final time, their lips interlocked.

“And you are mine.”

* * *

Tobio wandered in a lifeless daze the first few weeks after Shouyou had gone. He did not bother to eat nor sleep, and days and nights passed with him stooped down beside his lover’s grave, murmuring the string of words he used to say to coax his beloved out of his fitful distress.

“Come back to me,” he murmured in grief. “Come back. Do not leave me. Please. I love you. Come back. Come back. Come back.”

Those words failed him, and only the rustling of leaves and the chirping of birds answered, their normalcy mocking his despair.

There were many attempts to follow Shouyou to eternal damnation, because, truly, living without him was the Hell Tobio would not survive. He could not bear the thought of his sweet, cheerful angel forced to suffer in the inferno of unending misery, to face the gauntlet of their punishment all alone. He did not deserve it; more than anyone, be it an angel or a mortal. He was light and kindness, the very embodiment of everything that was good. Yet he was punished for the greatest good of all: he loved.

And immortality is a wretched thing.

“Why? All we did was love! That was all You preached about, but You condemned us for doing so!” Tobio bellowed at the sky. Thunder rumbled among the clouds, ropes of lighting illuminating the graying skies, invading the calmness.

With his knees buckled under him, Tobio spread his arms wide, an act of surrender. Or even more defiance.

“Come on! Strike me down! End me! Take me instead!” he demanded, and his guttural screams echoed across the field, desperate pleas that were all for naught.

Exhaustion claimed him, eventually, voice nothing but croaked noises, throat parched and lungs tearing. He was tired, yet his anguished cries did not falter.

“Please, please. Give him back to me.”

He descended into unconsciousness.

* * *

_“Tobio, have you forgotten our promise?”_

_“I am miserable without you. How can I live in a world where you do not exist? How can I be happy when you are the only happiness I had ever known?”_

_“I know what I ask of you is difficult. But remember my promise. I will find you someday. I will come back to you. One way or another I will. So you have to be strong, Tobio. For me. For us.”_

_“I do not know how…”_

_“You do. And I will be here. You will always have a piece of me. We are one half of a whole, remember? A pair. You are not truly alone because I am here. I will always be here."_

* * *

Years and decades went by, and the immortal, rekindled by the vow his lover left him, continued living his days on the human realm. He acquainted himself with the changes around him and survived through the rising and falling of civilizations. He met others like him, cursed angels exiled to waste away on Earth. Some chose to employ their immortality to amass or wrench power, playing god amongst humans. A few others had taken to live quietly, even forming ties with the mortals, bringing up families of their own.

Tobio, however, chose to live in seclusion in some far-off country in the east. He learned to do a new trade, just enough to sustain his everyday living. He made friends, immortals and mortals alike, and those companions somehow eased the loneliness that riddled him. Even still, the sorrow of the reality he was in would haunt him in moments of solitude, reminding him just how much he had lost, of the gaping chasm in his soul.

But he was never truly alone.

Tobio talked to him; in his dreams mostly, just as a wispy, white light, but still with the same lilting voice Tobio never did forget. Sometimes, he could even hear him while he was awake, whispering comforts when Tobio drowned in moments of doubt, reminding him of their promises when he got shrouded and overwhelmed by that unforgiving darkness. Even beyond death, Shouyou’s light on the immortal’s existence never dimmed.

Once in a while, Tobio loitered around a nearby forest. His days of hunting were over, but basking in the peaceful ambiance and tranquility of nature calmed him, made him recall the fondest of memories; of running side by side amongst the trees, hunting deer or wild rabbits and turning into a competition of sorts on who could capture the most game.

Tobio smiled at the memory, too immersed in that euphoric fantasy, and it was only because of his nimble reflexes that he was able to scarcely avoid the silver bolt hurtling fast in his direction. It grazed his shoulder, however, and the split wound emitted a tendril of smoke, ichor staining his clothes, and for the first time in his immortal life, he hissed in real, excruciating pain.

“Found you.”

For a moment, Tobio thought he was still trapped in the haze of his daydream, the pain toying his mind and senses, because surely the voice and the figure it belonged to was merely a phantasm. But those striking golden eyes and fiery hair that glowed like the ball of fire in the sky was too blinding and vivid for this to be an illusion.

He found him. He did find him.

Tobio took a step forward. “Shouyou—”

Another bolt fired and it struck the ground between his feet.

“Don’t you dare move! Stay right where you are!”

Tobio could do nothing but stare at Shouyou, his beautiful little angel risen from oblivion. It was him, there was not a single doubt in Tobio’s mind. It was him—only in his presence did Tobio’s heart felt like it bore wings of its own, fluttering and trembling fitfully, filling that emptiness in him with invigorating warmth.

It was him… but also not.

The way he’s dressed, the silver crossbow on his hand aimed directly at Tobio’s chest, and those amber eyes that once looked at him with so much adoration, were now tainted with absolute disdain and disgust; it was apparent what became of his lover.

Tobio had heard warnings about them. Humans who hunt fallen angels for the healing essence in their blood, either to use for themselves or to exchange for an exorbitant fortune. It is also with those same blood that they were able to wound an angel and suppress their healing gift: a weapon of pure silver dipped with ichor.

_I will find you someday. I will come back to you. One way or another I will._

Shouyou had returned, but not all of him did.

Perhaps their punishment was fated to be unending and cruel to the end. Perhaps they were both trapped in their own chronicles of Hell, destined to find and circle each other yet still of ill-matched circumstances.

Or perhaps… this is mercy. A chance worth taking.

“If I move, what would you do?” Tobio asked, regarding golden eyes that lacked warmth, only cold indifference.

The other boy took a firmer stance, hoisting his crossbow. “Shoot you straight in the chest.”

Ah. _Fitting_ , Tobio thought. He had every right to take what was within Tobio’s chest. It belonged to him, after all.

"I am happy I get to see you again," Tobio said. Those contemptuous brown eyes gleamed with something akin to recognition, just for one ephemeral moment, yet it was everything Tobio needed to take that gamble, to put faith in the only thing he believed in.

“Find me again, you hear me?”

"I said don't move!"

He moved.

When he hit the ground, sharp pain lanced and coursed in his every vein. Cold tendrils embraced him, but he welcomed it, for with it came comfort. Relief. Hope.

He waited entire lifetimes; he could bear to wait more.

As folds of darkness engulfed him, he took one last glance at the hair of fire and orbs of gold, and prayed with all his might that the memory would commit itself on his mind and soul.

* * *

_“I’m sorry.”_

_“It’s alright. Let’s try again.”_

* * *

It’s this overwhelming, yet unexplained feeling of longing weighing down on Tobio ever since his grandfather died. Not because he missed his favorite person in the world—although he does, so, _so very much_ —but because of this… _something_ that’s inexplicable, something he can’t quite put his finger to.

He felt lost, when he wasn’t accepted at Shiratorizawa, the school he and Kazuyo-san had always talked about. He felt empty, like a void that is yearning to be filled. He thought that something was volleyball, and although it did ease that ache in him to find a place to belong, it wasn’t enough.

A piece of him was missing and everything in him urged him to find it.

But he ignored it and instead poured all of his time and energy to the sport he loved. Why waste time on things he didn’t even understand nor have any clue what it was? Why look for something when just about everything he gave a shit about leaves him in the end?

Why go through all that trouble in searching when no one seemed to bother to find _him_ instead?

At least volleyball remained with him all this time, the only constant in his life, even though that painful memory of the ball dropping like shattered glass haunted and scarred him, and the name they were calling him behind his back was another wound he just had to endure.

Then this boy, this annoying little boy with his stupid hair and unrelenting determination, armed with a burning passion that rivaled Tobio’s, came barreling into his life.

“You tossed to me just fine. It makes no difference to me.”

It was like those dreams where you’re falling then jerk awake just before you land. It felt like that, as if those words roused something in him that was sleeping, and the sight of Hinata whizzing across the court, seeing him spring and leap, gave Tobio this idle, fleeting thought that this boy was not an annoying shrimp that can jump high, but an angel with majestic wings capable of soaring high up in the clouds.

It made Tobio feel like flying, too.

“I’m here!”

Maybe he wasn’t alone in searching after all. Maybe they were only following where Fate dictated them to be.

Tobio thought, _finally_.

He was found.

**Author's Note:**

> And that wraps up KageHina Week for me! Tho I had a separate idea for the endgame prompt, and I was excited to write it but my laptop died on me and along with it, my creative energy lol. But I'd definitely write it FOR SURE, after I take a break because writing this much for the past few weeks is draining ngl.
> 
> Thank you for everyone who's been with me and this dumbasses throughout this entire week and I am very grateful and overwhelmed by your messages and comments of encouragements. I feel very loved ❤❤❤ Thank you all so much!! Love you all!! ✪ ω ✪
> 
> ***
> 
> I love getting feedbacks, and they motivate me tremendously, so drop them in the comments! Kudos are also appreciated :) Thank you for reading! ♥️
> 
> scream about kagehina or hq in general with me on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/artemisia_hq?s=09) or [tumblr](https://artemisia--hq.tumblr.com)
> 
> i have more self-indulgent kagehinas in a mixed bag of fluff, smut, and everything in between [here](https://archiveofourown.org/users/artemisia_HQ/works)


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